A New CEO and a New Company

SirsiDynix gets a CEO
I am speeding off to D.C. for ALA, but I would be remiss to not get this announcement out first, since I have been clamoring for it both on- and offline. SirsiDynix has named a new CEO (pdf). Interesting news is that it will be a name that some librarians will recognize—Gary M. Rautenstrauch. Rautenstrauch recently held several executive positions at Baker & Taylor, including CIO, VP of Operations, and CEO. Rautenstrauch was replaced by Richard Willis when the company was sold to Willis Stein & Partners back in 2003. He followed B&T with short stints as CEO at Blackwell’s Book Services and Advanced Marketing Services.

It’s good to hear that Mr. Rautenstrauch will be at ALA this year, given SirsiDynix’s recent (and somewhat controversial) decision to abandon Horizon 8.0 development for improvement of the Unicorn platform, rebranded Rome (Rome, a product code name, still awaits final branding). SirsiDynix will likely need Rautenstrauch’s market experience to get them through a time of difficult transition.

Rautenstrauch will be joined in the Provo, Utah, office by a new CFO, Douglas R. Maughan. Look for more news and announcements from SirsiDynix in the booth at ALA!

Someone cares
Speaking of names familiar to librarians . . . Carl Grant, most recently of VTLS, has resurfaced after a very brief hiatus to join the open source provider community. Care Affiliates will be led by some familiar names from the vendor community—Grant, Lou Leuzzi (formerly of Endeavor), and Ron Passmore (Dynix, Ex Libris, and VTLS).

Care has turned to Index Data as a technology partner, and lists open source affiliates Thornton Staples (UVa. and FEDORA developer) and information architect Ezra Schwartz. Care will offer consulting and technology services based on open source software solutions.

“Lou Leuzzi and I want to build a different kind of company, one that works as partners with libraries to jointly develop great ideas, provide needed solutions in an open environment, and to do it in an affordable and caring way. The company name is a deliberate reflection of the approach we will follow in working with libraries. We Care.”

This makes the growing library open source industry very interesting. Care joins service and technology companies Index Data, LibLime, andEquinox. In fact, Care will even be sharing a booth with both Index Data and LibLime! Anyone in this space should envy the executive leadership that Care will offer. In my experience, successful open source technology solutions benefit from strength in leadership, marketing, and operational experience.

What a fun time to be watching the ILS industry!

[This post originally appeared as part of American Libraries’ Hectic Pace Blog and is archived here.]